Considerable amounts of rain have fallen overnight in Hawke's Bay, leaving river levels high and lots of back yards flooded.
Less than the predicted amount actually fell, but Hawke's Bay Regional Council monitoring stations showed readings of between 50mm and 120mm within the past 24 hours.
MetService is forecasting for rain to continue today and tomorrow before beginning to ease over the weekend.
A Severe Weather Warning remains in place due to the rainfall, and is due to expire about 3pm Friday.
On top of the rain, strong winds are also forecast with a Weather Watch in place for Hawke's Bay from early Friday morning to Friday afternoon.
Napier residents are still being urged to reduce their wastewater to a minimum as the city's wastewater system is struggling to cope with the rain.
Ocean Beach is no longer cut off as the road has re-opened.
Residents are being urged to take care on roads still as some have suffered damage due to the sustained rain.
A few small rural roads are still closed due to slips or flooding, and main routes like the Napier-Taupo road have a few slow zones due to slips but are still open to traffic.
A map of current road closures can be viewed here .
Schools in Central Hawke's Bay that closed early as a precaution due to the rain yesterday are open again today.
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